Journeys on language, speaking and storytelling

Since 2014 I have intertwined the creation of stage and visual works as well as working with different groups of people on process oriented projects; researching questions on language, texturality and storytelling.

I began with a project called Without an alphabet, where I worked with four young adults in the North-Savo region, whom used other than verbal speaking as their primary mode of communication. In the project we were looking into non-verbal communication strategies, art making and transience of sense and meaning making, embodied communication and in-betweens of signs and signifiers. This project resulted in two objects: A Duet work TU with longer term collaborator Veera Kivelä and a book publication PA A. The project was supported by Eastern Finland Regional Dance Centre and made possible with the housing associations, families and staff members.

Later on I worked with a housing unit for mental health in Helsinki, FI. With the project participants, we looked into ideas of home; construction of space, memories, traces and “speaking with” our environments. We accummulated a lot of sketches, writings, and embodied topographies and finalized the project with a book called Alvila Home. The project was made possible by HelCre-project of Helsinki City Council and the housing association Alvi Ry.

Most recently I took part in Dr. Leni Van Goidsenhoven´s research, originally under title Caring for Stories and later on: Ongehoord. We worked in Ghent and Leuven during 2018 with participants from the autism spectrum and the project culminated in an exhibition at the Dr. Guislaan Museum in Ghent during Spring 2021.

“Despite the great focus on autobiographical stories, not everyone is recognized as a competent storyteller. People who do not speak, speak with difficulty or otherwise, for whatever reason, have little opportunity to enter into a dialogue or to express their fears, desires and needs. Their forms of expression are usually 'unheard of'. Because their expression and communication does not go as expected and because their voice is literally not heard. But what happens if we go beyond the mere spoken word and focus on interaction and encounter?

This exhibition takes the viewer on a research trajectory with people for whom communication is not always obvious. Questions are explored about communication, voice and being heard, without answering them conclusively. The process of the research is central: the search for ways to create situations in which unheard stories can arise and be heard.

In addition to insight into the research process, work by the following artists can also be seen: Sonja Jokiniemi, Ann Hamilton, Leen Van Tichelen, Gert De Munter, Karel Verhoeven, Mariske Broeckmeyer, Katrien Vermeire, Marieke Vandecasteele, Davien Dierckx There is also a book, published by epo: Ongehoord: about small interactions when words are not obvious.”